


Shelter Me Away From Home

by FireReverie



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ep4 Onwards, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fix-It, Short Story, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:42:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28979808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireReverie/pseuds/FireReverie
Summary: Daenerys leaves the North after the Long Night. Jon is left behind with the consequences of sharing his secret and Dany's absence.
Relationships: Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen
Comments: 82
Kudos: 124





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Dany saves her arse.
> 
> Or
> 
> Daenerys chooses duty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This popped into my head wondering how Dany would have escaped certain death after the revelation of Jon's parents. I skipped that whole scene in Ep 4 because I think that's the point where they played down Daenerys' desperation, treating her like a mad woman when she had legitimate reason to believe her life was in danger. Or maybe it's just me trying to get out of this block. Happy week. Thank you in advance.

**Winterfell - 305 After Aegon's Conquest.**

Daenerys knew they were watching her. How could she not ? if the sensation burned through her body as if she were once again lying in the cold snow or walking in the hot desert. Of this she knew too well. Her fears took the form of voices in her mind that screamed at her to be careful with those sharp looks that were cutting her to pieces of her former self. She was hesitant and that was not good, a sign that she was in danger of losing control and to that, she knew only one way to react. 

The cup of wine in her hands waited for her to sip it and the food grew cold as time passed and she just absently looked around. No one in this cold Hall seemed to notice her. She didn't belong here. She wasn't welcomed and she would never be. And Dany wouldn't have minded it if it weren't for the same reason that she hadn't had peace of mind since she'd stepped on this cold land.

Jon Snow.

Her pitying eyes caught sight of him briefly, his back to her as he chatted happily with his people. She didn't blame him for smiling and celebrating, he had many reasons to do so. His family was alive and well, his home too. The whole venture of his life was fulfilled and over now and the news of his true identity ended with the ordeal of carrying the name of a bastard, something that Dany knew had been something that burdened him all his life. 

Jon has reasons to be alive and happy. People across this room as well except for Dany, who was afraid and lonely, not to mention that the losses of Viserion, Jorah, and their loyal soldiers still weighed on her and ached her.

And it wasn't that she didn't think she was the only one in that state of utter desolation, but she was the only person there whose life now hung by a thread.

And a thread that rested in the grip of Jon Snow, the man she had foolishly fallen in love with and who now represented her greatest threat. The man for whom she still felt great devotion and affection, and whom in the last instance she could never hurt even if he stabbed her in the heart, which Jon had already done in the days when he halted their romance and left her on her own in the dark and icy corridors of the home she tried to make her own for his sake but failed.

She failed and now felt defeated, on the verge of finding herself with no choice but to succumb to despair.

Daenerys glanced at Lord Varys, the spider that spun its web in the corner and whose poison eagerly spilled from the edges of his mouth. She raised her chalice and beckoned him, smiling tersely before taking a sip of the tasteless drink.

* * *

The Queen briefly visited the Unsullied camp and then the Dothrakis. She would have liked to spend the evening here but Tyrion reminded her that soon her people would have to march back home so that she could focus on ruling _her people_ of Westeros _._ Daenerys didn't like it at all what he said, but showing displeasure in those days hadn't brought her anything but long looks of suspicion and fear. His words made the young Queen think though. There was still wisdom in his advice. Her people had no place in Westeros. She had not given a deep thought to this and now she paid the consequences in the uneasiness that came when she sees herself alone. Completely alone.

Missandei. Her sweet friend and advisor. Never had Daenerys felt so much in conflict as when she saw her smile happily at the feast, openly living her love. 

_She's going to leave you too_ , the evil voice told her. _Everyone is leaving you_.

Daenerys hid in a corner to vomit the little contents of her stomach, the only thing she had in her body now that even her soul had left her.

Urgency consumed her from within.

She had to do something.

* * *

Jon stirred and woke up from his intermittent sleep when he heard the door to his bedchamber open. Even with the dead defeated, he still felt that they could appear in any corner at any time.

His heart plummeted the moment he saw Daenerys' small figure making her way in.

"I didn't mean to frighten you, my Lord," she spoke in a stiff tone of voice that he was familiar with. She'd use it for formalities. 

"You didn't - What did you call me?" Jon asked confused. 

It didn't take long for him to realize the situation they were in when he saw a violent emotion glow on her face that left her exposed to him.

Jon walked up to face her.

"I...I have to apologize for my behavior. My attitude towards you was not correct." The confusion caused by the strong beverages he had drunk added to the tumult of emotions already flooding him made it difficult for him to find the right words. "...Your Grace," he added.

Daenerys stilled in her place. She seemed to take his words with caution and suspicion, and Jon found himself puzzled at it.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Dany," he forgot where they were when he said, "Ser Jorah was a good man. Honorable. I am sure that if he could have chosen his final fate, _this_ would have been it."

The mention of the Mormont knight broke her but she was still undaunted as tears fell down her beautiful face and a stifled sob made her small frame stagger.

He wanted to take her in his arms and take her with him to a place where pain would not reach her.

To neither of the two.

But he was impeded from any advance with the heavy memory of the terrible truth in his mind.

"Jorah loved me. In a way that I could never reciprocate." She paused and her purple eyes gazed at him intensely, making him shiver like every time. "The way I love you."

_Did she...?_

Jon hadn't allowed himself to think about that possibility once she learned of his secret and gave him that stern look. He didn't blame her at all. The Iron Throne was her life's goal. The reason why she had sacrificed and suffered so much. 

Her confession had been met by bluntly silence on his part. One that Jon didn't intended to pass for rejection, even though she saw it that way by stepping back and putting more distance between them.

Jon reached for Daenerys' arm and pulled her toward him, grabbing her face and bringing their lips together in a passionate kiss.

* * *

Daenerys felt her body burn but this time it was not a sensation of impending doom but that overflowing passion that she never thought she would feel for somebody. She loved him, too much. More than herself and much more than she loved her sanity and well-being, for she was certain that these could not be safe in the hands of someone like him. Not because Jon had bad intentions but because his heart was too pure for this rotten world.

He pulled away, Dany's red, worn lips parting in a state of discomfiture. 

It lasted as little as it took for him to erase his own reservation and throw all caution to the wind as well. 

Dany knew in the back of her mind how unwise this was, even if it was everything that her heart wanted - needed - at this right moment. His mouth on her neck and hands lost in the desperate search for the touch of their bodies. He growled in her ear trying to untie the laces of her red gown while Daenerys barely stood on her shaking legs while holding tight on him.

When they stood naked in front of each other, he made a pause. Another moment of hesitation she thought. His darkened eyes traveled along her body and for the first time Daenerys felt conscious of her state during intimacy since she'd been taken by Drogo the first times.

Daenerys attempted to cover her nakedness but she was halted again midway by his strong grip on each arm. 

His eyes met hers.

"Is this alright?" Daenerys asked with a hint of a voice. She would never do to him what Khal Drogo did to her. What Viserys did to her. If he asked her to leave, she would leave with the pieces of her heart. 

Jon held her face firmly.

"I don't want the Iron Throne," he told her, "I want you."

With this he sealed her lips with his and carried her to his bed, where he placed her delicately before climbing on her.

* * *

Nothing would have stopped him except a thought.

_What would Ned Stark think of this?_

It wasn't hard for Jon to imagine that his father would ask him to do the right thing. The honorable thing.

The problem was, right now, he wasn't sure what that meant.

He hesitated not for lack of desire but conviction in it. He loved her more than he had ever imagined love could mean, and it hurt him to know that he was an impediment to the realization of her dreams.

But she loved him, and she had professed it to him.

_Fuck honor._

_Fuck Ned Stark and his secret._

_Fuck the Iron Throne._

_Fuck the entire Westeros._

_Fuck everything but them at this moment in time_.

As Jon savored Dany, he knew in his heart that it was right and honorable to be by her side and accompany her. He would have done this even if she had hated him like he thought she would. 

All his life Jon had lived knowing that his worth was nothing compared to the rightful children of his father and although the hurt of that notion had lessened over time by his sense of duty and honor and the moments in his life of full pride in his exploits Jon went back to being that boy that hoped every single day for his father to come and tell him that he was a legitimate son.

Daenerys whimpered as his mouth settled on her most private part. He looked at her intently as she got up a bit to support herself on her elbows to watch him devouring her. Her eyes closed in ecstasy and her head fell back just to jerk up with a sudden moan.

_Does she want to see me as a Targaryen?_ He has vaguely wondered in those days. The memory that overshadowed this new resolution of things.

_She loves you and is all that matters_.

He snaked a hand and began to sink his fingers into her core. She was so warm. 

It mattered little to Jon that she was the sister of the man who fathered him. His aunt. He'd known her like the Dragon Queen and grown to love her like his Dany. No one else has that concession but him.

He joined a third finger and she was breathing heavily. 

They could make it. They _would_ make it. 

If something like the Night King could be defeated, they could get through this new scenario and emerge unscathed.

Jon held a small hope.

* * *

Afterwards he gave her her first taste of release, she took him in her mouth and brought him to the edge of it before straddling him and riding him. Jon impatiently snaked a hand around her waist and pushed her on her back to start fucking her. It hadn't taken long for both. 

They fainted in that mist of pleasure and fatigue.

Not knowing how much time passed, she woke up at some point to tuck themselves in bed. He had woken up more alive and taken her again in a slower, lovingly pace.

Jon looked at her intently while still on her. 

"I love you," he said and repeated once more. "We _all_ can live together."

Dany understood what he meant. Of course she understood. And it was like this that she decided it was time to leave.

* * *

Dany left his chambers and returned to hers even though Jon told her she could stay the night there. She put a hand on his face and kissed him in a way that she hadn't kissed him before, just a peck on the lips.

He didn't expect to find her until the next day at the meeting they would hold to deal with the state of the armies and the war with Cersei. Jon was alarmed when instead of Dany, Missandei arrived with news that she wasn't feeling well and therefore they would postpone any matter related to the Iron Throne.

Before Jon could do or say anything, he was cornered by his sisters.

He could hear Daenerys' voice asking him not to. That he does not share the secret with his sisters - with Sansa, in truth. And in Sansa's face he can see the hint of mistrust that other times had prompted her to commit not so noble actions, such as not telling him about the Knights of Vale because she still did not fully trust him. If it was just Sansa, Jon might have waited longer until Daenerys thought it was safe for the world to know. What he least wanted was to be the cause of further conflict between them.

It was Arya's childlike faith in him and in the notion they were all the last of the Starks that reminded him of their childhood and their love as siblings that led Jon to confess it.

When Arya rushed at him to hug him and apologize for her words, then he burst into tears. 

"You have always been and always will be my brother and a Stark. Be you a bastard, the son of Lyanna or a Targaryen," she said as she cried over his shoulder.

The mention of Lyanna stirred mixed feelings that even he didn't want to face. The fact that not only he but a war that killed thousands of people had been born from the union of his parents was not a reason for pride or happiness.

"Your queen - What does Daenerys think?" Arya asked, still sniffing and emotional. "Does this mean that she's going to give up the throne? Are you getting married? Your name is Jon Targaryen now?"

Jon was about to laugh at so many questions but then a hateful sound came out of Sansa's mouth.

"Give up the throne? The Dragon Queen?" she spat. Her face crossed in a scowl of disdain and disbelief. "Tell me, please, that you were not so fool to kneel knowing that you are the heir to the Iron Throne."

Like Daenerys herself, Sansa's first reaction has been related to the claim to the Iron Throne.

A sick feeling swirled in Jon's stomach.

"I swore you to this secret, you do understand that right, Sansa?" Jon warned.

"The North -," Sansa trailed off, probably because of the look Arya was giving her. She swallowed her pride for a moment. "I'm glad to know that father never tainted his honor or disrespected mother. But that doesn't mean that this secret hadn't caused terrible damage anyway."

"Sansa, shut your mouth," Arya barked.

"She was your mother too! And she was forced all her life to believe and live a lie," Sansa snapped, tears in her eyes and her voice cracking. Her eyes went from Arya to Jon. "Robb left his honor and his family to marry a foreign woman. Father hurt mother to protect _you_. And my mother...she died in the war that of the south wielded on our people. On our independence. I lived through it in my flesh. And now you want to leave all the sacrifices of our family go in vain for a woman whose emotional stability depends on her being perceived as a goddess? Her dragons are power, Jon! If it is not Cersei, it will be Daenerys. The North will not be safe until she is free and ruled by her rightful kings!"

"And who is the rightful king, Sansa?"Jon questioned her with a clenched jaw after waiting for her to have her vent. "Who according to you is the rightful ruler of the North? That whose name is Stark? Bran? Arya? You?"

Arya frowned at her sister as Bran silently observed.

"I..."

"You hid behind Littlefinger when we had to take back Winterfell and now you hide behind the cause for independence so as not to face the fact that all you want is to take Winterfell and be left alone."

Jon took a few steps forward. 

"If you had told me you had Baelish's reinforcements, we would have saved men who fought for a cause that was not even theirs. If you had not antagonized Daenerys, you would have received the North in your hands without the need for all this absurd conflict! Until now I have overlooked your failures and your rude attempts to undermine my intelligence because above all else you are still the daughter of Ned Stark and because I respect you for all that you have endured on your own. But your suffering cannot justify your lack of empathy for those who fight by your side when they have no reason to do so other than for the good of all. Something you would do well to start considering from now on since The North is nothing but a wasteland that cannot even fight her own battles. Our land has been blighted by the dead while the South is controlled by Cersei who has a new army that only dragons could pose a threat to."

"The Lords will never accept a Targaryen-"

"Don't be naive, Sansa. Robb got a knife stuck in the heart by a Northerner. The lords will accept the ruler who provides them with enough resources to live in peace and feed their people so that they don't rise up against them."

Jon took a deep breath and stepped back.

He looked to his side to check Arya's reaction in all of this but found only hurt on her face.

"I shared the truth with you because Lord Stark - _father_ , he deserves his honor to be recognized." He swallowed hard. "Recognized by his daughters," he emphasized looking at Sansa. "He was not a fool for being honorable. Robb was not a fool for loving the wrong woman. His decisions affected you, I know. But they never meant to harm you. Their decisions were not made to hurt you. War is war and if you were for a moment on the battlefield you would know. How many lives have been lost because of a decision you've made?"

Sansa blinked quietly and said nothing.

"Daenerys is going to be a good queen. The queen. And if this secret leaves this place, then you will be declared enemies of the Crown."

Jon turned around and walked off.

* * *

Dany cracked her fingers when she finished writing and placed the quill in the inkwell. The strong smell of it made her dizzy and nauseous. She needed to eat something before she passed out.

The door of her bedchamber opened and she knew it could only be Missandei. She commanded her guards that, in the unlikely event that it was Jon or someone else, to be told that she needed time to rest in solitude. Endure the grieving process alone.

Of course she let Lord Varys and Tyrion in once, who came with _exciting_ news from the new Prince of Dorne who had declared his support for her cause. _Her cause_ , they stressed out. Dany frowned at that but brushed it off. When all was said and done, the most practical solution would always be in a marriage alliance.

Her heart ached. She could still feel Jon's touch in her. 

"Everything is ready, your Grace," Missandei communicated in a dialect that they both had created to avoid eavesdropping. "Are you sure of what you are doing, Daenerys?" she asked seriously.

Dany looked at the documents on her desk and back at her friend and confidant.

"You once told me that when all my advisers have failed in do their job, I know to see what they don't. I ask you to trust your own judgment, my friend."

Missandei nodded and helped her get ready.

"Lord Snow is not going to be happy about this," she commented.

"Lord Snow knows to do the right thing when the time comes. Always." Daenerys sighed while Missandei helped her to get into her white-fur coat. "And although it's a bit harder sometimes to me, I do too. Always."

The women smiled at each other.

* * *

The Northerners told at this time of day, the hour of the wolf. Dany didn't understand why until she stepped outside and heard the howling of wolves in the distance. She laughed a bit to herself. 

A blizzard had blown, staining her cheeks with a crimson color. _Kissed by snow_ , Jon had teased her.

Rhaegal and Drogon came down with a gentle flapping of their wings outside the Unsullied camp, who guarded her there and carried her out of the castle without arousing any suspicion. 

She turned around and spoke directly at them, thanking them for all and wishing they fare well in the wars to come, until her return. She would've done the same with the Dothraki but they were rather anxious and contented to finally march south and fight some armored men in their stone houses. 

Dany directed some words to Torgo Nudho, whose face revealed without words that he wasn't happy with this outcome. 

"Take care of her. You know what I mean. Do what's necessary to keep Missandei safe."

Dany turned on her heels and trudged her path to her surviving children. She stroke both their snout as she could, taking special care of Rhaegal, who was not fully recovered from his wounds.

_The dragons are the only children I'll ever have_.

But they will not be the last dragons. Nor was she. 

The day Jon told her that her lineage would not die off with her, he didn't know the truth significance of his words. The depth in them. 

When she was a child, Viserys had taught her to flee because the usurper's assassins were on the prowl and that had made her existence a nightmare from which she could not wake. She preferred to leave those memories in the past. After Viserys died and she became a Khaleesi, she started facing her fear with a prideful stance. She did it over and over, when she lost Drogo and their child but then gathered the strength to hatch her dragons. 

Countless times. Too many for a person whose sanity was on the verge of falling on the bad side of the coin.

Daenerys looked at Winterfell with tears welling up in her eyes. Rhaegal let out a soft, saddened sound.

She kissed his snout.

"Take care of him. He is a wolf but he is a dragon too. Make him acknowledge that part of him. To feel proud of it."

Drogon lowered his shoulder to help her climb onto his back. She said to him, "Take me far away from here. Wherever you want to go."

* * *

He gave Dany her time but when the hour of the wolf came, he went looking for her. Faced with the reluctance of her guards, Jon entered her chambers by a passage.

He didn't want to be invasive but he needed to tell her about what happened with his sisters. If after that, she got mad at him and asked him to leave, he was going to do it but every night he would return to apologize until she accepted him back.

There were urgent matters to attend to. One of them involved them, them like...like whatever they were. 

Since the boat, Jon has been fantasizing about asking for her hand but it seemed farfetched when she was a queen and he was a bastard. A king. He was a king, a warden rather, and that gave him hope of being in a position where he could offer her more than himself.

It now made sense and for that very reason the fear invaded him that she believed that it was a matter of practicality and not love.

They had a lot to discuss.

He entered her bedchamber and found it empty.

"Dany...?"

No one answered.

Jon sensed something was wrong. Why wasn't she going to be there?

Jon stepped inside and paced the room, waiting for Dany to appear behind some wall. When he walked by the desk he found there were papers there. Papers that he would have ignored had it not been for the seal on it. The seal of the three-headed dragon signing an official document.

For the briefest of moments, he came to think...Gendry. Documents legitimizing the bastard of Robert. However, when Jon began to read the first few lines, the document fell from his hands onto the table.

_"I, Daenerys Targaryen, make known my resignation to all claims to the Iron Throne on behalf of its rightful heir..."_

_"...Jon Snow, falsely claimed bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell..."_

_"...Aegon Targaryen, rightful son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen with his wife..."_

Jon stumbled and fell onto the bed, rubbing his face.

_It cannot be._

_It cannot_.

The door burst open. On the other side Arya struggled with the Unsullied her way in.

"JON!" she shouted at him. "Let me go, you rube!"

"Let her go!" Jon told them in spite of the mist of confusion that clouded his mind.

The Unsullied heeded by his command, thing he didn't think they will do. 

Arya glared at the guards in suppressed anger as she rubbed her arm.

"We have a problem," she said, turning a rueful face on him. "Sansa broke her oath."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My other fic is going to feel cheated because I wrote smut here first.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue heavy chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks in advance ❤

"Think of the past twenty years. The war, the murder, the misery. All of it because Robert Baratheon loved someone who didn't love him back."

Lord Varys put on a puzzled expression.

"Although charming, it is not a faithful recollection. Rhaegar and Lyanna fled and unleashed an unprecedented war. Robert did nothing but act guided by the knowledge of things in that precise moment, and let us not forget, of course, that the Mad King burned and killed Lord Rickard Stark along with his son Brandon. How many others know?"

Varys came to sit across from Tyrion, who watches his friend’s rather enthusiastic response to this revelation with apprehension.

"Including us? Eight."

"Well, then it's not a secret anymore. It's information. If a handful of people know now, hundreds will know soon. Then what happens?"

Tyrion sighed and looked away.

"She loses the North. She loses the Vale, Sansa will make sure of that."

"No, it's worse than that. He has the better claim to the throne."

"He doesn't want the throne," Tyrion argued as if he didn’t well know that little mattered.

"I'm not sure it matters what he wants. The fact is, people are drawn to him. Wildlings, Northmen. He's a war hero."

"Daenerys is a war hero as well, I remind you, or have you forgotten the reason we traveled North in the first place?" Tyrion paces the room rubbing his face with his hand. "Look, he loves our queen. And she loves him. If we marry them, they could rule together."

"She's his aunt."

"That never stopped a Targaryen before."

"No, but Jon grew up in Winterfell. Is marrying your aunt common in the North?"

Tyrion scoffed his disbelief.

"It astounds me how little you know of history Lord Varys. It's been some recorded cases of avuncular marriage between the Starks as well and there have been even more instances where kin of Great Houses, including my father and mother, wedded. It's not a that serious blood relation."

Seeing his argument crushed, Varys pressed on, "You know our queen better than I do. You entrusted me with the fact that she cannot bear children. Set that against a popular young man, capable of begetting them with a suitable prospect - perhaps a Dornish daughter or someone from The Reach, and our queen is left without any role to play. What will Daenerys do in front of this hostile scenario? Do you think she wants to share the throne? She does not like to have her authority questioned. I worry about her state of mind."

Tyrion admitted to himself that he had a good point. Still, he didn't want to dismiss Daenerys as if all her efforts so far had been for nothing. It wasn't fair to him and it wouldn't be fair to the judgment of the honorable Jon Snow.

"Well, we are advisors to the queen. Worrying about her state of mind is our job." 

Before Lord Varys could respond, Missandei walked in the room with Grey Worm not far behind her.

"That is no longer necessary, my Lords," she announced.

* * *

"Missandei," Lord Tyrion hurried to his feet. It was not appropriate for the person closest to her Grace to find him in the middle of a conversation that gradually became more in plotting. 

He cleared his throat. "We were awaiting a report. Is she in good condition?"

Missandei cocked her head slightly and replied, "Of course. Better than before I'm sure. However, as I said, your feigned concern is no longer necessary."

Tyrion blinked in confusion as Varys held a breath.

"A few hours ago, Queen Daenerys flew off."

Tyrion's mouth hung open. He quickly glanced at Varys, who looked back at him with the same surprise written in his features.

"She left for the capital on her own?" Varys asked.

"The destination she chose is known only to her and her dragon. But I am sure that destination is not King's Landing, my lords."

Tyrion shook his head from side to side, refusing to believe what the translator was telling him.

"Wait, wait, wait. This cannot be possible. We are in the middle of a campaign. _Her campaign!_ "

When Missandei prepared to fire, Lord Varys cut her off.

"She ran away," he whispered.

Missandei snapped her mouth shut and looked at Tyrion. The eyes of the Lannister traveled to the pair of scrolls that she was carrying in her hands.

* * *

"Where is your queen?" Arya inquired as she looked around and noticed how empty were the chambers where Daenerys had inhabited in her short stay. Jon was still caught in disbelief, processing the succession of calamities that seemed to beset him.

Jon swallowed hard. The words she spoke when she slammed the door open still hammering pain in his head.

"Where in the seven hells is Sansa?"

Arya tried to reassure him by putting her hands on either side of his arms.

"I need you to stay calm, Jon."

Jon jerked away from her.

"I warned you of the consequences of breaking your oath and yet Sansa chose to betray me," Jon angrily pointed out.

"I know, Jon. I know. When I found her talking to Lord Tyrion I knew immediately from the look on her face that she had chosen to break her promise. That doesn't take away the fact Sansa is our sister."

"I don't think that mattered to her when she made her decision."

"Please, Jon. There has to be a good reason for her to think it necessary-"

"Are you on her side?"

The look Jon gave Arya was one of utter disgust and disappointment. Her heart grew heavy in her chest.

"No, Jon. I'm on your side on this. But I'm not going to let this tear us apart as a family. There has to be another solution."

Jon walked to the door, taking with him the paper that Dany signed abdicating in his favor. 

When he turned to look over his shoulder at Arya, she took a few steps back as she noticed the shadow covering his face.

"Sansa chose," Jon stated, "I'll choose just the same."

* * *

Missandei never wobbled at Lord Tyrion's glare. She keep a resolved and firm stance and carried on with Daenerys' mandates. 

"With this decree," she said, showing in her hand the small scroll entrusted to her, "The queen releases you from your oaths. Your services are no longer required from this moment on."

Both former advisers took the small piece and read it.

"Is it possible to know what is the reason for this hasty decision?" Lord Varys asked, although of the two he was the one who best read the situation. 

When Missandei opened her mouth to reply, the door behind them creaked open and Lord Snow stepped through. His eyes roamed the room in search perhaps of the person they were just talking about. 

"Where is Daenerys?" he addressed the question to everyone present. 

"The Queen departed," Lord Varys answered before anyone else could. "And we don't know where, I'm afraid."

Lord Snow nearly stumbled backward. His eyes went to Missandei. 

"Lord Tyrion and Lord Varys fear that she has gone to King's Landing but she has not. Her army and one of her dragons remain here at the disposal of Lord Snow in whom she trusts far more than in any of her former advisers who have done nothing so far than failing in their assigned task." 

Jon took a step towards Missandei, stirring Grey Worm forward to position himself in front of her in warning. 

"You're going to have to be clearer than that because this doesn't make a lick of sense," Jon said with suppressed anger. 

"Of all of us, you are the one who should know better than anyone what is happening, _Your Grace_ ," Tyrion remarked tartly. Animosity hinting through him at Jon being the problem he foreshadowed being the moment he saw him making his way in the cabin of her Grace on the ship. 

"You know that," Jon replied with a wild-eyed look. "Sansa told you."

"Of course she told me," Tyrion scoffed. "What did you think was going to happen? That your sister would calmly agree not to use such a weapon against Daenerys?"

"Says the one who trusted in Cersei," Jon snapped. 

"So we are very close to an understanding here." Tyrion turned his face to Missandei. "What is this supposed to mean? Does Daenerys abandon her claim in favor of Jon's claim?"

"There is no such claim," Jon skewered at him. "I don't want the Iron Throne. I don't want anything to do with it."

"You didn't want anything to do with the Iron Throne when you dallied with the queen you swore yourself and your kingdom to?" Tyrion challenged him.

Jon gritted his teeth. It took all of him not to stride toward him and slam Tyrion against the wall. The dwarf was looking at him with such spite in his eyes that Jon hadn't noticed before. Tyrion hated his guts and he didn't think it was an overnight thing. 

"It seems to me that we can continue to talk about this matter without lowering each other to a couple of degrading comments, right Lord Tyrion?" suggested the eunuch in his soft voice. He swiveled around to face Jon. "Since this information is no longer a whispered secret, it is time for us to face the reality of things, my Lord."

"The reality of things is that if Daenerys left, nothing will happen. The one who wants that throne is her, not me." Jon wrinkled his expression in disgust at the eunuch. "You were the one who went to Essos for her and now you abandon your faith in her at the appearance of a new prospect. Where do your loyalties really lie, Lord Varys?"

"With the Ream and its people. _Always_ ," the spider answered bluntly. "We could dwell on the matter indefinitely, we will reach the same conclusion all the same. Daenerys was necessary at one time and in one place but that is no longer the case and to say otherwise is to be naive at the very least." His stance softened as he tried, unsuccessfully, to dissuade Jon. "They say that every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air and the world holds its breath. I'm not sure which side your aunt's coin fell but I'm sure yours fell on the right side and that you will rule wisely while she-"

"She," Missandei interrupted, who had been biting the inside of her cheek to hold back a barrage of insults in various languages towards the ungrateful man. "Could have gotten you executed for your repeated crimes in the past, I remind you Lord Varys. And not only do did she forgive you but she received you as a close adviser. Position in which you did little more than nothing." The young translator glared at all the men in the room except Grey Worm. "You have all given her ill advice after ill advice that has only put her in a weakened position. Being the worst of all the failing bargain with Cersei which costed the life of one of her children. And all that for what? For Cersei to mock her once more and not get any sort of consideration from her closer allies."

"Aye. Tyrion and Lord Varys are awful at their jobs and that's one thing," Jon squinted at her. "Excuse me, my Lady. But I won't allow it that you to liken me to the likes of these two. While I admit I was wrong in trusting Cersei, Daenerys also believed in the necessity of an armistice, until she saw the army of the dead herself and pledged her forces. I grieved the loss of Viserion and gave her the North and my heart for it. Now instead of staying to deal with this together, she took off and drew back from any responsibility because she does not trust that we can sort this out, _together_." 

Missandei did not know what to answer to that. Her dislike for Lord Snow was rooted in the fact that she was by Daenerys's side in the days of his neglect of her. From the brokenness in his voice, Missandei could tell that he was greatly affected by the departure of the queen. Only then did she wonder if it hadn't been too hasty of her to pass such harsh judgment on his person.

At least she knew now that Jon Snow was not on the level of deception as Lord Tyrion and Lord Varys.

* * *

Sansa's heeled boots clattered against the wooden floor as she made her way to her desk. As the door closed, a shadow moved and descended on her from behind, startling her. A chill ran down her spine and as she met Arya's cold eyes. 

"You broke your oath," she confronted her without hesitation. 

"Do not get into my chambers without authorization," Sansa snapped, annoyed and scared by the intrusion. Her hands fiddled with the things on top of her desk absently.

"This was our parents' chambers," Arya remembered her. 

"Now it is mine."

"Why did you do it Sansa? Why did you break your promise with Jon?"

"It had to be known! These people, Daenerys, Cersei, Joffrey...all they seek is power, and the more they have the more they want. And they feed off the fear of others. I've seen it and I can tell."

"So you believed that you and only you can know what is right. Even if it means trampling on our brother's will."

"Jon didn't care what I thought when he bent the knee," Sansa said, "The North bled too much. We were not going to let another mad Targaryen whose only alternative to dissent is to burn people alive be our ruler. A person like her cannot be a good queen."

Arya walked forward with her chin up. "Who will be enough good for you then? Jon? You? Tell me the truth, Sansa. You are doing this for the North, for our family or for yourself?"

Sansa sucked in a sharp breath and held herself back from answering. Her little sister would never understand why and it was not in her nature to play this game. _Go ahead_ , she thought to herself. _Let the world turn against you_. Either way, she would end up being right in the end, Sansa believed.

"You will see with time that I was right. When the dragon queen wants to subdue Jon, and force him to choose between us and her-"

"The dragon queen is missing."

"What?"

Sansa wrinkled her nose and twisted her features in a confused expression. She looked at her sister, trying to absorb what she was saying.

"Something happened and he can't find her in the castle."

They were left in utter silence. Sansa's mind stopped working.

"It can not be true," she reflected.

Arya scoffed.

"It would be crazy wouldn't it? That you did all this to undermine Daenerys and she got ahead of you." Arya stepped closer and squeezed her shoulder, making Sansa wince a little. "You are not the smartest person I have ever known after all. Good luck, Sansa."

Arya turned on her heels and took off. 

* * *

Missandei cleared her throat. "There is a condition, however," she said.

Jon laughed bitterly.

"What else?"

"Although Queen Daenerys will continue to be a part of this campaign through her collaboration and that of her army," she stole a glance at Grey Worm, "In her absence, she has entrusted us with the task of carrying out all her affairs for her. That is to say, those mere matters that had to do with the need for an immediate response, that will have to be consulted with me, and those that had to do with the well-being of her army, the person in whom she relies on is Grey Worm."

"Does this mean that Daenerys no longer plans to stay in Westeros once this is over? She has cut off any kind of bond with this land by making this decision."

"My queen's feelings are not mine to know or share, Lord Varys."

Missandei curtseyed. 

"When we are called upon, here we will waiting," she said specifically addressing Jon. With that, she and Grey Worm left them with the information to sink in their minds. 


End file.
